Category: media

“English Canadians love to talk Canadian politics. They produce more than their fair share of comics. So why can’t they seem to find the right mix of late-night talk and late-night jokes? Those who try say defeatism is one problem.”

“Sky Arts is to resurrect The South Bank Show three years after it was axed by ITV, with Melvyn Bragg once again on board to host the [arts] series.”

We can blame the Internet, it seems – and, for that matter, mass communications and the entire Information Age.

“New theaters are opening all over the country, especially in the big cities, where you’ll find cineplexes like cherries atop the towering new shopping malls.” Many of them are ostentatiously upscale, with luxurious decor and furnishings, advanced “4-D” technology (moving seats), and ticket prices that signal high status.

The study “depicts a grim scenario in which CBC/Radio Canada would lose about $360-million in revenue, but also face $190-million in increased programming costs to fill the airtime once occupied by ads. If the broadcaster spread those losses – of about $550-million – over all programming, the quality of its television schedules would suffer.”

“We have to react against the theme park film, as well made as they are, and as enjoyable as some of them are.”

“The Artist, Michel Hazanavicius’s black-and-white ode to silent cinema, won best feature, and Mr. Hazanavicius also won best director … Brad Pitt earned a nod for best actor for both Moneyball and The Tree of Life, while Meryl Streep won for The Iron Lady.”

“The order is the latest in a series since the ruling Communist Party last month endorsed a program to raise the entertainment and ideological value of cultural offerings to better hold the attention of Chinese increasingly turning to the Internet for alternate viewpoints.”

“There’s been such a change in the last seven months that it caused us to feel that we had to send a message to the government, to remind [them] that Canadians, by huge majorities, value public broadcasting.”

“[John] Bickelhaupt, whose formal title is ‘re-recording mixer,’ is one of just four or five craftsmen hired by showrunners to perfect the sounds of laughter. He spends his days traveling from mixing stage to mixing stage, carrying a custom-built computer that can quickly adjust the tone, volume, and even gender of an audience.”